|
Contempt
of truth
by John Kamau,
Rights Features Service
(August 10, 2001) A
Kenyan court has ordered the prosecution of the managing editor
of a leading Kenyan daily, Joseph Odindo of the Daily Nation,
and the chairman of Standing Committee on Human Rights, Prof.
Onesmus Mutungi, for contempt of court.
 The
editor is accused of publicizing the results of an independent
investigation into the murder of six prisoners at a Kenyan jail
before the conclusion of a judicial inquiry, while Prof. Mutungi
is accused of releasing the findings of the investigations to
the press.
Prof. Mutungi's committee,
which is appointed by President Moi, released information to the
public, while a judicial inquiry was on, to the effect that the
six inmates were bludgeoned to death by prison warders in September
4 last year. The prison warders have maintained that the six died
after falling off a wall while escaping from King'ong'o prison
in central Kenya.
| A
Kenyan editor and human rights official are prosecuted
for revealing the results of a prison murder investigation. |
|
A Nyeri magistrate,
Charles Nyamweya has now asked the Attorney General, Amos Wako,
to bring contempt of court proceedings against the two at the
High Court in Nairobi.
The death of the six
prisoners triggered a huge debate in Nairobi with the prison authorities
maintaining that the six were escaping.
But the matter took
a new twist when the prison authorities buried the six without
informing their relatives triggering a court case, which ordered
the government to exhume the bodies for independent autopsy.
The independent autopsy
by human rights organization People Against Torture (PAT) pathologists
concluded that the six were bludgeoned to death.
This forced the government
to institute a judicial inquiry, which has yet to conclude its
findings. And while the inquiry was on, the Standing Committee
on Human Rights released its findings to the public at a press
conference.
Although the three
Kenyan dailies carried the story, only the Daily Nation
was charged with the offense. The paper has sought leave to appeal.
|
